Quality of Rice\'s Academic Life

¶ … quality of Rice's academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What perspective do you feel that you will contribute to life at Rice?

The structure of Rice's Residential College System is based upon community spirit and service. Building and rebuilding communities have defined my life. This summer, I worked as part of a youth missionary team assigned to repair houses for impoverished people in South Texas. Doing so forced me to leave my comfort zone and proceed, if not to a different national culture, then a culture of poverty in a hidden America where life is a daily struggle and what most Americans consider necessities are viewed as gifts.

Such co-mingling and sacrifice for the sake of the community has always come naturally to me: as part of my service for my school's National Honor Society, I have always striven to become involved in the most hands-on projects. I participated in toy and food drives where I could witness the fruits of my efforts being enjoyed by the populations they were designed to help. I loved seeing the 'a-ha' expression in elementary student's eyes when I tutored children in chess for NHS. And designing games to keep the hearts and minds of the residents of a local retirement home young was perhaps the most rewarding task of all.

Whether helping the old or the young, I do not see myself as someone who is just a servant, but also a learner -- I strive to learn from the people I am aiding. This helps me in my volunteer work, of course: I can better teach a child how to cry 'checkmate' if I understand how a child thinks; if I understand the past and experiences of the elderly person, then I am better able to bring him or her enjoyment. But service is not simply a sacrifice on my part. One of the great joys of volunteerism is that it is an educational experience for me as a servant. I learn about myself, looking into the eyes of a child, and I have also learned a great deal about this nation's past, listening to the stories of individuals far older than myself.

Rice University students are encouraged to learn through their residence hall system, from their fellow students. I look forward to assimilating into a mosaic of ethnicities and cultures on a daily basis, simply by being part of the communal feeling that exists at the dorms. Amongst my friends and family, I am known as the person willing to take a risk -- I am the one always willing to try fried alligator, or to say hello to a stranger. To be unafraid in the face of the new, particularly new people, is essential in making life meaningful.

Letting go of old assumptions and one's ego temporarily has been valuable for me on many occasions and will help me serve my future college environment. Even in my current extracurricular activities, such as on my Varsity football team, sacrificing my need to be a 'star' and instead serve the common good is a necessity. Teaching the novice debaters is an integral part of my duties on my school's Lincoln-Douglas Debate team. I must help them see the world from competing perspectives, and to see issues in terms of grey, rather than stark black and white.

I am so thankful for the people in my life who have taught me this spirit of community: the people I met over the summer in Texas taught me what it means to be a good neighbor, the children and senior citizens I have befriended who have shown me that friendship knows no age or socioeconomic status. I have, despite the shortness of my life, tried to craft an open soul with few fences, with no barbed wire around my heart. The poet Robert Frost mocked the cliche "good fences make good neighbors." I disagree with such a sentiment as well -- to be a good neighbor is to extend a helping hand, to rebuild a home, to open a mind with knowledge -- not put up a fence. I hope to bring that same spirit to the Residential College System of Rice University and uphold not only the traditions of scholarship I learned at my high school, but also the lessons of service I have learned from my many experiences.

Question 2: What motivated you to apply to Rice University?

'Teach a man to fish for a day, and he eats for a lifetime.'